Enrichment and Development of Film Aesthetics by Digital Long Take

International Conference on Education, Language, Art and Intercultural Communication (ICELAIC 2014)

Lin Gao Art & Design College Zhongyuan University of Technology e-mail: [email protected]

Abstract—No matter traditional recording long take or Elephant. Documentary long take is also called recording digital long take, regardless of highlighting authenticity or long take, such as following shot by shoulder camera and coherence, the main purpose is to reflect the ideology of human videotaping by portable camera. Documentary following connotation to the greatest extent, while technique and shot can reflect the characters and events in a natural, technology only make the film better to reach a wider audience smooth and realistic way. In Elephant, the long take was as long as the film style is appropriate for them. made closely behind the characters and the event was directly narrated in such a manner similar to the Keywords—Long take; Film language; Digital technology documentary film. The long take seemingly had no any focus or purpose. The dialogue was almost narrative, with I. INTRODUCTION few lines, exerting little force to put forwards the story. Just As an ontology language of film, long take is an tell the whole event to the audience through one video important form of camera language. Long take refers to a camera in a documentary manner without symbolism and single shot that lasts for at least 30 seconds and composed of metaphor. In this film, no more shooting techniques were different sceneries and compositions formed on the screen adopted, and the scene was only in the school. by the mise-en-scene of lens internal actors and shot From the opening to the end, there are three long takes movement. In long take, the continuity of time and the integrity of space are realized to achieve a scene of reality were made to the sky to photographing the changes of without any processing. Long take theory is also known as clouds. This change in the silence indicates the danger in “documentary thought”, but the average length of camera peaceful life. The scenery shot of sky at the end of the shot in American film is reduced from 10.5 seconds in 1946 movie gives a space to think and reflect the whole event, to 2.9 seconds in 2006. Editing is wantonly prevalent today, letting the audience in a memorable artistic mood. whether the director can make a long take calmly? In the Elephant, long takes are transferred smoothly, and André Bazin believed that the core theory of long take the pre-design and mise-en-scene are reasonable, especially was that the use of long take and deep focus would not limit the scene of three girls having lunch in dining hall: the perceptual process of the audience, and long take was a camera moves left to the kitchen after shooting three girls potential ideographic form, focusing on revealing motives taking foods to shoot two men smoking, then follows the by normal state of things and complete movement and men out of the kitchen, and finally turns back to shoot the keeping the “transparency” and ambiguity of the shot. Long girls looking for table. The camera, seaming as a silent take will reproduce natural process of real thins natural flow trailer, a dispassionate observer, stands out the sudden occurrence of the event without shot processing and edition. [1] of things, and therefore it is more realistic. Viewers can The film is a faithful record of one morning of ordinary high selectively watch the film and aesthetically judge it without school students, but makes the shooting incident more any restriction as well as can initiatively and creatively shocking! Elephant was made in low key, specifically most imagine and think while watching the film. actors are local high school students without any film stars,, II. TRADITIONAL DOCUMENTARY LONG TAKE no script is prepared, and the film is made by only one camera. The camera takes shots in a simple but keen and The representatives of long take are French film theorist calm way, just like a bystanders looking the event, without André Bazin and Germany film theorist Siegfried Kracauer. any emotion, however, bringing strong feeling to the They believed that the film was a realistic art form, and the audience. artist should record the subject in its original state instead of changing it or interfering with its natural development and Long takes made by Kenji Mizoguchi, a representative should not disintegrate the subject by montage editing, in of “Japanese Neorealism” set forth his unique feature and this way, the sequence “realistically” recording and clipping have changes in spatial form. His theories are called as which can reflect true life is a real film. “one-shot-ism”. His representative works Ugetsu Monogatari is ended with one long take that Genjuro come Documentary long take was extensively employed in home to find his wife Miyagie everywhere. This shot is a

famous long take because When Genjuro returns to the same Generally shot movement is divided into several distinct house again, but find Miyagie is sitting in the room and small units. One shot shows a lot of scenes. Although no waiting for him to come back. The time and space are editing used in the shot, equivalent action is expressed by conversed properly. The theories of Kenji Mizoguchi are the connection of shot movement, just like panorama, quite different from Bazin’s. motion shot, lifting or expanding lens can change camera viewpoint. [3] Here we analyze the sequence, scheduling III. SUBJECTIVE LONG TAKE IN DIGITAL DV and technical features of long take on the basis of digital With DV camera, artists and some ordinary people with long take at the beginning of the movie The Knot. alternative artistic potential have a better means of This film is made in three stages. expression. DV become the same with the photographs and pens to record the artistic process. In Many DV works, A. Planning Stage especially documentary films, original state is the director, There are 60 shots with digital visual effects in The Knot. and the productions have no narrative line or assumed joy At the beginning, 6-minute long shot shocking but true life. For example, to shoot a girl twenty minutes Oliver · Stone gives a complete outline of folk customs in every morning and a dying sick father. However, as a Taiwan in 1940s to reflect the background of the whole film. documentary, absolute truth is also one scary thing, let along Director Yin Li made 8 shots which contains the unique movies. scenes in Taiwan to the greatest extent: traditional Long take is always employed at the beginning of DV Taiwanese drama, Taiwanese puppet shows, local marriage making, because it is unnecessary to design for shooting; etiquette, street peddlers, the KMT soldiers, and Taipei simple static long take or following shot is subjectively architecture. These 8 shots were made separately and made only to reflect which we see. Therefore, long take combined into a coherent shot by digital technology. should be selectively used in DV making. The rhythm is Therefore, editing action exists in the long shot that is controlled by alternatively using long take and editing. The composed by digital technology. How to make editing long takes are highly regarded in the Italian neorealist films. without any traces? Early planning is very important. The In La Terra trema: Episodio del mare (made in 1947), Ladri contents, shooting methods, and scenes of eight shots are di biciclette and other works, a shot is sometimes one pre-designed and investigated according to actual conditions. complete narrative sequence. [2] The nodes of digital technical connection are worked out by Subjective long takes are usually used in DV making. pre-calculation, and light changes and scene scale at the Such long take expresses the subjective feelings or moment of connection are also considered, for instance, imagination of the hero or director, subjectifying the when making flying shot, the camera traverses and glances expressed thing, or exaggerating, deforming, or imagining off the roof to continuously pass more roofs and chimneys. the character’s emotion. It is a very expressive way of Early planning is made in details, and the technology is only shooting. As the response of shooting individual to the scene, taken to composite the shots in later stage under the premise long take can reflect personal creative charming in all the of that the director considers to use technology in later stage minor details. and understands and masters the essentials of the technology. IV. EXTENSION OF LONG TAKE CONCEPT BY DIGITAL B. Real Shot ANIMATION TECHNOLOGY For making these eight shots in The Knot, the Long take and montage edition are two cornerstones of photographer is required to have high competence because film aesthetic uniqueness. Montage is composed of long and the shot made by him is not conventional aesthetic shot but short shots, serving as a basic form of camera language. is classified as trick photography. The eight shots mainly Emphasizing the connection between shots and time and show the life of ordinary persons in the 1940s in Taipei, so space conversion between shots, montage focuses on the the shots are made in alleys at different times and places. combination of shots reflecting the life to reveal their internal relations. The complete display is broken into It is difficult to adjust the scene, lighting, character scenes and shot elements, and they are connected according arrangement, and the speed and tone of track and dolly shot. to the theme and ideas to generate new meanings and further The camera is pulled out from the window when shooting create new reality of the art. Montage is also a structural by 100m cable and hung on the cable to move at uniform method and grammar rule of film language. speed to make ds dolly shot on the roof. There is no syntagmatic relation is not between long The characters also are shot in batches. In top view of takes but between screens. Actually long take is a montage crossing alley, the camera is pulled into the alley. The inside the shot or a single-shot montage. Long take children running in the ally is shot really, and the people completely emphasizes to recapture real life and keep the walking outside are added after being shot in front of blue continuity of time and space and the integrity of life. The screen. school of long take ignores the discovery and creation of the artist and typical summary and artistic refinement. With C. Digital Synthesis documentary narrating style, long take represents the unity As an art form with closest relationship with technical and integrity of space and time. Long take and montage are means, digital technology has brought vitality to the film, interrelated and mutually integrated. providing a powerful tool for building multi-dimensional

542

space and time. The computer-generated images or associated images not only show the original three-dimensional space in a more three-dimension way, but also strengthen time + space four-dimensional effect in the film. This is unthinkable in traditional real photograph of the movie, but they are connected together by digital technology in The Knot. One mark of convergence of the eight shots in The Knot is laid between third and fourth shots, i.e., from the window to buildings. Actually the window is nonexistent, only shaped on the blue screen in shooting, and added in late stage. The black car in the first shot is also combined by shooting two alleys. The color of the sky also is post-synthesized. The feeling of being in the air by the audience is generated by the synthesis of pigeons, sky and windows in post-production. The long take in The Knot is a narrative space integrating different spatial sceneries in real environment and visual scenes. The visual effects are beautiful and stunning, creating a special meaning of time and space and a psychological feeling of time effect of the audience. The long take ingratiates the requirements of the director's story narration, shooting materials, making skills of long take connected by digital technology, traditional filming technology and digital visual effects.

V. CONCLUSIONS Technology is far from completely expressing people’s thinking. The nature of film is to narrate a story. The story to tell the audience fully reflects the ideas and creation of the director. No matter traditional recording long take or digital long take, regardless of highlighting authenticity or coherence, the main purpose is to reflect the ideology of human connotation to the greatest extent, while technique and technology are only make the film better to reach a wider audience as long as the film style is appropriate. Beyond all question, The Knot directed by Yin Li bring us unprecedented visual experience and make a precedent for the application of future digital technology in long take.

REFERENCES [1] Dictionary of Film Art/China Film Press, Version 1986/P68 [2] History of Film & TV Art/Zhou Xing, Wang Yiwen, et al; Guangxi Normal University Press, 2005.1/P90 [3] Film Art: An Introduction 5th Edition/David Bordwell, Peking University Press, 2003.1/P249

543